Upholstered seat-cushion



E. C. LANG AND C. A. VAN DERVEER.

UPHOLSTERED SEAT CUSHION. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 7,

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

and conforms to the latter.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD C. LANG, 0F MELROSE, AND CLARENCE A. VAN DERVEER, 0F WAKEFIELD,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS '10 HEYWOOD BROTHERS AND WAKEFIELD COM- IPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

UPHOLSTERED SEAT-CUSHION.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

Application filed March 7, 1917. Serial No. 153,175.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD G. LANG and have invented new and useful Improvements in Upholstered Seat-Cushions, of which the following is a specification.

.This invention relates to upholstered seatcushions, and its object is to provide such cushions with reinforced edges adapted to preserve the original shape notwithstanding abuse such as that committed by passengers in railway cars when they put their feet on the edges of the cushions. The invention is especially suited to the construction of railway car seats and is shown by the accompanying drawings as being embodied in a car-seat, but may also be embodied in seatcushions for automobiles, theater chairs, sofas and other articles.

The invention is embodied fundamentally in a relatively thick and soft sheet or layer of upholstering material, adapted to extend throughout the top area of the seat or cushion, its marginal portions being folded inwardly and forming rounded beads or rolls that define the outline of the top, and having stiffening or reinforcing strips of suitable flexible and resilient material suohas ratan arranged to extend longitudinally in the sockets formed by said beads or rolls. We arrange the aforesaid beaded and reinforced sheet of upholstering material upon the spring structure of the cushion so as to utilize it as the foundation of the upholstery, other upholstering material such as loose curled hair, for example, being placed upon the top of the foundation ele ment to increase the aggregate thickness of upholstery and to build up the body of the cushion to or above the level of the tops of the beads or rolls that define the edges. When the covering of sheet material is applied it lies upon the rounded beads or rolls roll is not apparent when the structure is finished but is nevertheless effective to prevent the edges of the cushion from being broken down or otherwise destroyed by ordinary use or by abuse such as that mentioned.

The bead or.

Referring to the accompanying drawm s:-

igure 1 represents a vertical cross-sectlon of a seat cushion embodying our present invention in what we now consider the preferred form.

Fig. 2 represents a similar View of a modification.

Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of one of the corner portions of the beaded upholstering element, showing the miter construction. The outline indicated by broken lines represents the shape of the beaded element before the marginal portions of the latter are folded inwardly to form the bead.

Fig. 4 shows one of the slots and a portion of the articulated frame.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur.

The frame structure, in the present instance, is designed for a substantially rectangular seat-cushion suitable for car-seats and comprises two parallel wooden bars 10, 10 and two wooden bars such as that indicated at 11, connecting the ends -'of the bars 10, thus forming the rectangular wooden bottom frame. Wood is used in the construction of the bars 10 and 11 so )that nails or tacks may be driven into it to anchor the layers of thin'sheet material hereinafter described. Spiral springs 12 are mounted upon slats 13, and the ends of said slats are fastened to supporting strips 14. The upper ends of the springs are fastened to spring steel slats 15 which have corrugations formed in them as indicated at 16. A flexible articulated wood strip or frame is arranged upon the end portions of the slats 15, and comprises a series of small pieces 17 of wood strung upon wires 18. Rivets 19 connect the outer springs 12 and the flexible lated Wood frame, and are fastened to the Wooden bars 10 and 11 by tacks. This eleextend also throug ment 20, 21 is commonly called the first canvas, its functions being to hold the springs 12 under a slight degree of compression, and to protect the upholstermg material from the chafing action of the slats 15.

The foundation element of the upholstery is made of a relatively thick sheet 22 of soft fabricated material such as felt, and its initial area is considerably greater than that of the finished cushion. The original outline of one corner portion of the element 22 is indicated by broken line 23 in Fig. 3. Instead of having square corners its corner portions are cut off along the lines such as that indicated at 23 to permit mitering. The marginal portions 24 are then folded inwardly and held against the body of the layer thus forming the rolls or beads indicated at 25. The folded portions are fastened by courses of stitches 26, but before these stitches are sewn it is desirable to cover the element 22 with a sheet 27 of textile fabric such as canvas, to reinforce the sheet 22. Then when the stitches 26 are sewn they will pass through the reinforced sheet '27 as well as through the upholster ing material 22. The beads or rolls 25 are thus provided with sockets 28, and the element 22 is further reinforced by arranging strips 29 of flexible resilient material such as ratan in said sockets. The roll or bead portions 25 are all formed, the stitches 26 are sewn, and the reinforcing strips 29' are arranged in the sockets 28, before the element 22 is applied to the spring structure, and thus each upholstering unit may be fully prepared as to size, covering, stitchin and reinforcing, before it is assembled wit the other elements of the seat-cushion.

After the upholstering unit, prepared as hereinbefore explained, has been arranged in the position shown with its bead or roll portions resting upon the frame elements 17 it is secured by any suitable means such as stitches 35, which may be sewed by a curved hand-needle'and arran ed to connect the re inforcing sheet 27 wit the first canvas 20. Then a suitable quantity of auxiliar upholstering material such as loose curle hair 30 is distributed upon the textile material 27 tobuild up the body of the cushion to or above the level of the tops of the beads, and is confined by a layer of suitable sheet material 31. The outer covering of the cushion may be used for this purpose but we prefer to use a sheet of relatively fine woven material such as muslin, especially if woven material such as plush is going to be used for the outer covering. The outer covering is indicated at 32 and its marginal portions are fastened to the wooden frame members 10 and 11 by tacks 33. These tacks the marginal portions of the first cover11'g31 and fasten them.

It is to be understood that the blank space appearing between the layers 27 and 31 of textile material is intended to be filled with material 30, and that some of the latter is omitted merely to enable the structure to be illustrated more clearly.

When the cushion is finished the roll or head portions 25 are supported by the flexible articulated wood frame comprising the wood sections 17 so that the weight of occupants of the seat will not break down the edges of the cushion. If the pressure upon the roll or bead portion should be exerted substantially in a horizontal direction, as when the feet of a passenger are pressing against it the rectangular outline of the cushion will be preserved by'the bead portion and the reinforcing strip 29 conjointly.

In the modification shown by Fig. 2, the springs 12 are not held under compression by the first canvas 20 for the latter does not overhang and depend from the flexible articulated wood frame. In this case the marginal portions of the first canvas are fastened to the wood members 17 by any suitable means such as tacks 34. The canvas covering 27 of the beaded upholstering element 22 has marginal portions 27 that embrace the outer edges of the flexible articulated wood frame, and keep the upholstery in place. These, marginal portions are drawn down tightly and fastened to the wooden frame members 10 and 11 and hold the springs 12 under compression. The fabric 27 is doubled and stitched by stitches 36 to relieve the stitches 26 of the tension caused by the springs. The superposed upholstering material 30, confining sheet 31 therefor, and outer covering 32 are then applied as explained in conjunction with Fig. 1.

We claim:

1.- An upholstered cushion comprising a suitable base, and an upholstering unit including a sheet of fabricated upholstery material having initially a greater area than the top of the base, and an outline permitting its marginal portion to be turned back and secured to the body thereof, whereby said unit is provided with rounded upwardly extendlng beads that project beyond the upper edges of the base.

2. An upholstered cushion comprising a base including suitable springs, an upholstering unit supported on the springs and including a sheet of fabricated upholstery material having initially a greater area than the top of the base, and an outline permitting its marginal portions to be turned beneath the body and secured thereto, whereby said unit is provided with rounded beads that project beyond the upper edges of the base, auxiliary upholstery material arranged within the area surrounded by said beads, and a covering of sheet material arranged to cover said auxiliary upholstery material thereof, to form initered beads integral with and said unit. and extending continuously about said body,

3. An upholstering unit, comprising a In testimony whereof We have affixed our 10 sheet of fabricated upholstery material havsignatures.

5 ing initially a greater area than the top of the base it is to cover and having marginal EDWARD C. LANG. portions bent back and secured to the body CLARENCE A. VAN DERVEER 

